What really indicates induction?

[Rick Nicholson]

Suasan patrick writes > I will be performing northerns to quantitate
mRNA.  I want to show 
> conclusively if a particular gene (marker for differentiation) is or is 
> not induced by a drug treatment.  I am particularly concerned about 
> internal controls.  (In my experiment, F9 cells will be differentiating, 
> and I think some internal controls, such as cytoskeleton components, may 
> be inapproprate.)  
> 

The only real way to show that transcription of your gene is regulated
by treatment with your drug is to do nuclear run-on assays.  As you will
be hybridising the hot RNA to slot blots of your particular gene and
controls you will be able to probe several different control genes at
one time.

-- 
Richard C. Nicholson, BSc PhD
Senior Research Fellow
Centre for Immunology
St. Vincent's Hospital
Sydney, Australia 2010